Christ mediated a new covenant with His own precious blood.

 

Sermon for Judica, Lent 5, March 22, 2026

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  

Hebrews 9:15-22  ¹⁵For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant.  A death took place as payment for the trespasses committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called would receive the promised eternal inheritance.  ¹⁶For where a will exists, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made the will.  ¹⁷For a will takes effect at the time of death, since it is never in force when the one who made the will is still living.  ¹⁸For this reason, the first covenant was not ratified without blood.  ¹⁹Indeed, after every command was spoken by Moses to all the people, in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and a hyssop branch, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people.  ²⁰He said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God established for you.”  ²¹In the same way he sprinkled blood on the tent and all the objects for worship.  ²²And nearly everything is cleansed with blood according to the law.  And, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. (EHV)

Christ mediated a new covenant with His own precious blood.

Dear friends in Christ,

            In our modern culture, most of us would likely be a little too squeamish to seal a contract with the blood of a sacrifice.  Yet, in the times the writer refers to here, God chose the sacrifice of animals to be the seal of His promise of forgiveness and salvation.  God used that system for a two-fold purpose.  First, it showed the deadly consequence of our rift with God, and second, it pointed the people forward to the sacrifice God would make to reconcile Himself with the human race.

In the Mosaic covenant with which the Hebrews were experienced, the sacrificial death of an animal was required to receive forgiveness and peace with God.  That old covenant was still a covenant of grace, but it showed very graphically that sin resulted in death.  Naturally, that should have surprised no one, since essentially every person who ever lived eventually died which fulfills God’s warning to Adam and Eve that if they broke their covenant with God and ate of the forbidden fruit, they would die.  Yet, a new covenant was needed because the first was symbolic of the sacrifice God was making to cover our sin.

A new covenant was necessary because the old covenant didn’t really atone for sin; rather, it was pointing forward to the one death that would indeed reconcile us with God.  You see, because it was man’s sin that required the consequence of death, the sacrificed animals could only picture the final sacrifice.  To truly reconcile people who are under the curse of sin with the righteous God who loves mankind, a Man had to die.  Furthermore, because all of us ordinary people deserved death for our own sins, our deaths couldn’t reconcile us with our Creator.  However, Jesus, being both true God as well as true Man and perfectly holy and righteous, could bear the sins of the world in our place.  It is for this purpose that Christ mediated a new covenant with His own precious blood.

In the explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed, we each confess that Christ “has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.”  This is precisely what the writer is telling his fellow Hebrews in this text.  Speaking about Jesus, he wrote, “He is the mediator of a new covenant.  A death took place as payment for the trespasses committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called would receive the promised eternal inheritance.”  The old covenant included the commands to obey God perfectly.  No ordinary human was able to meet that requirement.  Therefore, we all deserved death.

However, Jesus’ death was no ordinary death, just as Jesus was no ordinary human.  Still, I need to qualify that statement, because Jesus assumed the human flesh into the divine.  He is therefore completely human, exactly like us but without sin.  At the same time, He is completely God so His life has infinitely greater value than ours.  Because He had no sin, Jesus didn’t deserve to die.  However, in God’s eternal wisdom and economy, the sins of the world are counted to Jesus so that when He went to that cross of suffering and shame, He was doing so without having committed any infractions, but out of love for us, He was taking on Himself the judgment we deserved for all our sins.

This is why Jesus wasn’t just spouting a platitude when He said, “No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)  Justice couldn’t require Jesus to die.  As God’s Son who was and is perfectly obedient to His Father’s will, Jesus dwelled in heaven in absolute righteousness and peace.  Still, His love for you and me brought Jesus to earth to be the Mediator, the One and Only God-Man who could restore harmony between God and mankind.  This was the will and covenant God had written throughout the Old Testament.  So much of that history showed how great a need we have for this new covenant.

However, as the writer here says, a will and testament only becomes valid when the testator, the person writing the will, dies.  This example from daily life fits well with God’s will to save sinners.  The demands of the law require death for sin.  God would not and could not accept anything less than perfect righteousness in His presence.  Therefore, the only way we might enter heaven is if God provides the way.

The writer also explains how throughout Israel’s history, God commanded that blood be used to sanctify, that is to cleanse from impurity, all things associated with His honor and worship.  The apostle wrote, “Indeed, after every command was spoken by Moses to all the people, in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and a hyssop branch, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people.”  Time and again for centuries these rituals were repeated in their worship practices.  Why?  Because God wanted the people to see that only the blood of His Son could cover their sins for good.

When the original covenant was given, Moses told the people, “This is the blood of the covenant that God established for you.”  The writer further reminded his listeners that, “In the same way he sprinkled blood on the tent and all the objects for worship.  And nearly everything is cleansed with blood according to the law.”  Therefore, we can rightly conclude along with the writer of this letter, “And, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.”  Without Christ on the cross, no one can be forgiven.

All of this pointed to God’s plan which would be completed by His Son, Jesus.  Now, in our times, the world may scoff at all this blood and death and mediation talk.  Many around us wouldn’t give it a second thought.  Yet, it is unmistakenly true that each and every person living, now or yet in the future, will meet the Lord face to face at some point.  There is a Judgment Day coming for everyone, whether that be when the body dies, or if it should be when Jesus returns in glory to judge the world.  Neither of these things is negotiable.  You cannot buy your way into heaven or out of hell, either by works, or wishes, or wealth.  There is only one way to enjoy peace with God and that is through faith in Jesus, just as He declared to His disciples, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)

That is why this letter is such good news, not just to the Jews of the first century A.D.  It is good news for us as well.  Christ mediated a new covenant with His own precious blood.  Many of the Jews to whom this letter was written were beginning to go back to the old ways.  Perhaps it was at the urging of friends or family who hadn’t yet believed in Jesus.  Likely, persecution from staunch Pharisees or the old guard of temple priests, or even from the Roman government was tempting those early converts to Christianity to go back to the old ways.  The world is always against those who follow Jesus, because the world is led by the deceiver who has hated us since the beginning.

You and I are not immune from these temptations.  In fact, Jesus promised they would come.  He foretold that in the end times, there would be many false prophets and teachers who mislead people into trusting their own ideas or simply letting the natural desires of their sinful flesh rule their lives and actions.  History is full of the evil of man misleading or abusing other people. 

Today, many people think times are getting worse, but there were also many other times in the last nineteen hundred years when opposition to Christ seemed to rule.  As Jesus was led to the cross and the women were weeping and wailing, Jesus quoted the prophet, Hosea, as He warned, “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’  For if they do these things to the green wood, what will happen to the dry?” (Luke 23:30-31)

Still, if despair because of all the evil in the world should ever overtake you, remember that these troubles will not last.  Indeed, Jesus declared, “If those days were not shortened, nobody would be saved.  But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:22)  The elect are all those people who have been brought into trust in Jesus as Savior, Redeemer, and Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit in the proclamation of the Gospel and the Sacrament of Baptism. Thus, the elect are those of us who have heard the Good News of all Jesus did to take away our sins and pay for our guilt with His own shed blood and by God’s grace have believed in Him.

No matter our physical age, our times in this troubled world will soon end.  That may seem like bad news when first heard, but our Lord’s plan is always to take His people out of this troubled world into the glory and peace of heaven.  There, we will never again have any torment, sorrow, sin, or death.  There, the devil has no influence on anyone or anything.  There, you and I will be blessed to enjoy everlasting peace with God, because Christ paid our debt of sin with His blood, and because we have been chosen by God to hear and believe in Jesus, His righteousness now covers us with holiness. 

Dear friends, “See the kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)  Because we have been claimed by faith to be sons of God, Christ mediated a new covenant between us and God with His own precious blood.  Amen.

The Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  Amen.

Receive, from the Father’s Son, the Bread of life.

 

Sermon for Laetare, Lent 4, March 15, 2026

Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

John 6:41-47  ⁴¹So the Jews started grumbling about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  ⁴²They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  So how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”  ⁴³Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves.  ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the Last Day.  ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’  Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.  ⁴⁶I am not saying that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God.  He is the one who has seen the Father.  ⁴⁷Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me has eternal life.” (EHV)

Receive, from the Father’s Son, the Bread of life.

Dear beloved in Christ Jesus, our Lord,

            It seems incredible to me, but for some reason, the world has always had a hard time understanding who Jesus is.  Even as a twelve-year-old boy at the temple, the teachers were dumbfounded that Jesus could have such understanding, while He always appeared to be an ordinary boy and later an ordinary Man.  Still, having been taught by the words of Scripture for the last two thousand plus years, how can anyone today not recognize Jesus?  Still, many do not.

This morning, we will take a look at a portion of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed.  The Christian Church has confessed Jesus’ nature ever since He ascended to heaven.  Of course, God the Father has been testifying to Jesus’ nature from the very beginning through the work of the Holy Spirit in recording the written Word of God.

As we confessed a few moments ago, we believe “in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”  That seems very straight forward, but perhaps Luther’s explanation will help those who may be confused; he wrote, “I believe that Jesus Christ is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary; and that He is my Lord.” 

Here, we come to the crux of the matter.  These blunt statements seem like an impossible contradiction to the intellect of the person broken by sin, and since we were all broken by sin through our inherited nature, it is impossible to understand these truths except by faith.  Therefore, I bring you another seemingly impossible message: Receive, from the Father’s Son, the Bread of life.

To the natural mind, if Jesus is God then He cannot be human and certainly not bread.  Furthermore, if Jesus is a man, then how could He be true God?  Likewise, how could a baby be born of a virgin?  All this is completely outside of our human experience.  Therefore, the Spirit of God conceiving a Son in a virgin seems like mythology, so natural man rejects it, unless of course, he imagines something equally incredible himself.

In our text, the crowds react with disbelief because Jesus had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  The Jewish people reacted in much the same way that modern man does, arguing through human logic that Jesus’ statement is impossible.  They knew Jesus’ earthly parents, Mary and Joseph.  They knew without any doubt how babies come into existence.  How could Jesus say something so preposterous?  Later, when Jesus had the audacity to teach that to be saved they must consume His body and blood, many if not most of those people turned against Him saying, “This is a hard teaching!  Who can listen to it?” (John 6:60)  And, they walked away.

We can resolve the difficulty in understanding Jesus’ words when we realize that He is not speaking about the Lord’s Supper He would institute the night He was betrayed.  Jesus is speaking, here, about Himself as the Word of God.  To help us understand, St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

From the very beginning of the Book, the Bible tells us that the world and everything in it came into existence as God spoke.  His word has the power to create and to destroy.  St. John tells us about the saving power of God’s spoken Word when he writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him everything was made, and without him not one thing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.” (John 1:1-4)  Thus, Jesus is the food that gives life to the soul.

This world exists because God’s spoken Word has the power to create and sustain it.  You and I exist because God spoke into existence the elements that make up our bodies and He then formed us into special beings into which He breathed the breath of life.  It isn’t so hard to understand once we are willing to believe that our God truly is God.  The trouble for most people is that it doesn’t line up with what the sinful mind accepts.  Everything about God, His being, His power, His outside of this world nature, His mercy, forgiveness, and kindness is outside of the realm of human comprehension, so our salvation is understood only through the power of God working faith in us.

This is why when the people were complaining about His teachings Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the Last Day.”  The Jews claimed to have the faith that saved Abraham, but they were being misled by teachers who insisted salvation must be earned.  Many of those teachers didn’t even believe in angels or life after death.  As you can imagine, the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees were not pleased when Jesus told the crowds, “Every plant which my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.  Let them go.  They are blind guides of the blind.  And if the blind are guiding the blind, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:13-14)  The teachers of Israel had become a people led by their faulty intellect.  Yet, forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation cannot be earned, invented, nor come by our decision, because “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” (Psalm 3:8)

Consequently, every doubt or fear we might have about God or our salvation is, of course, sin.  Furthermore, almost all of us are troubled by these things at times.  The Christian faith doesn’t always make sense in the sinner’s mind, and there is opposition all around us, both from people in the world and the forces of evil that seem to rule the world.  Our own flesh cries against us, because we don’t want someone else having power or control over us.  What the sinner, by nature, fails to understand is that we are either under the devil’s control, or God has wrested us away from that deceiver by the power of His Word.  That is the only way anyone is saved.  Therefore, when we are brought to faith in Jesus, He has become our Lord to whom we owe our lives, for He rescued us from Satan’s chains.

Now, therefore, hear Jesus as He tells the crowds and the world, “It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’  Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.”  For thousands of years, God has been telling the world about His love, and the way He would show that love through sending His Son to be the sacrifice that would reconcile the world with God.  For fifteen hundred years God sent prophets to the people to tell them about the coming salvation. 

Actually, God was telling that Good News right from the beginning.  He spoke the story of salvation to Adam and Eve.  God showed the world His saving might as He rescued Noah from the judgment flood.  Again, God demonstrated to the world that He would save His people as He rescued Abraham’s descendants from their slavery in Egypt.  Time and again through Word and action, the Father told the world about Jesus.  Still, it all seemed so mysterious until Jesus made everything clear.

Therefore, it is now given to us to enjoy forgiveness and everlasting life, because the Holy Spirit has caused us to Receive, from the Father’s Son, the Bread of life.  Jesus told the crowd that day, “I am not saying that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God.  He is the one who has seen the Father.  Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me has eternal life.”  This is simple enough for anyone to understand; whoever believes in Jesus Christ, that is whoever believes that Jesus is the Son of God who came into the world to redeem us from the curse of sin and the devil’s control will receive forgiveness of all sin, reconciliation with the Father, and life everlasting in heaven.

Jesus told the Samaritan women at the well, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)  God is Spirit, so we can’t find Him in the created world.  We can’t discover His secrets by human ingenuity or exploration.  The only way for us to be reconciled with God and be saved from our sins and the condemnation we deserved is if God reveals Himself to us, and He does that in the power of the Holy Spirit through His Word, through His Son, Jesus, for “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and all things hold together in him.” (Colossians 1:15-17)

For us today, Jesus remains that saving food that enlivens us to live forever.  He feeds our souls so that by His holy Word we believe in Him as our Savior from sin, Satan, and death.  We consume the Bread of Jesus through the hearing of the Word of God and its Good News for us in Word and Sacrament.  Having heard and believed the message Jesus brings, we are no longer children of darkness, for in Him we have the Light and Bread and the sure Hope of life everlasting.  Today and always, dear friends, Receive, from the Father’s Son, the Bread of life.  Amen.

Amen.  Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might belong to our God forever and ever.  Amen.

What God wills will be done.

 

Sermon for 4^th midweek Lent, March 11, 2026

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Luke 23:20-25  ²⁰Pilate addressed them again, because he wanted to release Jesus.  ²¹But they kept shouting, “Crucify!  Crucify him!”  ²²He said to them the third time, “Why?  What evil has he done?  I have found no grounds for sentencing him to death.  So I will whip him and release him.”  ²³But they kept pressuring him with loud voices, demanding that he be crucified.  And their voices were overwhelming.  ²⁴So Pilate decided that what they demanded would be done.  ²⁵He released the one they had asked for, who had been thrown in prison for rebellion and murder, but he handed Jesus over to their will. (EHV)

What God wills will be done.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            You’ve prayed the prayer hundreds if not thousands of times, so have you ever stopped to consider what we are asking when we pray, “Thy will be done.”?  When Jesus taught the disciples to pray this prayer, do you suppose they recognized what it meant to say to God, “Thy will be done.”?

I suspect that we often are thinking that this is a concession to God expecting that He will give us what we ask for unless He deems it not what He wants for us.  I don’t believe that is what Jesus meant when He taught us to pray the Lord’s Prayer.

As we continue our walk through the Catechism, we come to the Third Petition of the Lord’s Prayer.  That portion of the Prayer states: Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

What does this mean?  Luther answers, “The good and gracious will of God is certainly done without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may be done also among us.”  He then continues his explanation by asking, How is God’s will done?  And again, he answers; “God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil counsel and will, which would not let us hallow His name nor let His kingdom come, such as the will of the devil, the world and our own flesh; but strengthens and keeps us steadfast in His Word and in faith until our end.  This is His good and gracious will.”

Now, we come to the hard part; what is the core of God’s will, and how does that apply to you and me?  You see, almost the whole Lord’s Prayer is aimed at asking God to bring salvation to us.  Only one petition out of seven pleads for our earthly needs.  Therefore, we must conclude that it is God’s will to save people from their sin.  God created mankind so that He might walk among us in peace.  However, sin entering our world certainly has interfered with that.  Therefore, to restore peace between God and humankind, God moved Himself to destroy the rift that Satan caused.

That brings me back to what the disciples might have thought when Jesus taught them His Prayer.  Did they grasp where this petition would lead Jesus?  Could they have possibly understood that it would lead to His arrest, to a mock trial, to the lies of false witnesses, the whipping, beatings, mockery, crucifixion, and finally to Jesus’ death on the cross and burial in a stranger’s tomb? 

The actions of those disciples the night Jesus was betrayed, and in the days immediately following, suggests that they truly couldn’t understand or realize what it meant when they prayed, “Thy will be done.”  Now, there was much in the writings of the psalms and prophets that should have made clear to the disciples what would happen to the promised Messiah.  Furthermore, Jesus told them on several occasions that He was destined to suffer and die for the sins of the world, but that He would rise from the dead.  Still, they couldn’t comprehend what that all meant.

So, are we ready to understand?  When we pray, “Thy will be done,” we are not asking for God to will all our earthly desires into existence.  Rather, we are truly praying (even if we don’t realize it) that God would be merciful to us and grant us the peace that only He can give.  Already early in His ministry, Jesus told Nicodemus, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-16)  Likewise, Jesus wasn’t shy in teaching this to His disciples and to the crowds.

When “the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he was not merely breaking the Sabbath, but was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.  Jesus answered them directly, ‘Amen, Amen, I tell you: The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing.  Indeed, the Son does exactly what the Father does.’” (John 5:18-19)  How does this apply to God’s good and perfect will?  St. Paul later explained, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

As Jesus walked through Galilee and Judea, He was proclaiming Good News to the people.  He was telling them of God’s will to save sinners through the life and death of His beloved Son.  At first, many believed and wanted to follow Jesus, but the more He explained and the deeper His teaching went, the more people turned away, and at the end, probably the majority of the Jews just wanted Jesus gone, and when whipped into a frenzy by Jesus’ enemies as He stood before Pilate, they cried out, “Crucify!  Crucify Him!”

Even though Jesus gave His life for ours, this is exactly what God had expected that nation of people to do.  God didn’t choose Israel as His people because they were perfect or even believers.  He chose them because He knew that though many would believe and be saved, the crowds would eventually turn against His Son.  Still, God’s desire to save sinners continued on, because “God our Savior, … wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.” (1 Timothy 2:3-6)

On top of all this, it would be no help to us if God demanded a payment on our part or if He only intended salvation to come to Abraham’s blood descendants.  So that we would know the truth that sets us free from sin and death, Paul wrote, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.  As it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’  He redeemed us in order that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we would receive the promised Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:13-14)

We now know God’s will.  Our God loved us so much that He would stop at nothing to reconcile sinners with Himself.  He gave His Son, Jesus, into suffering and death, so that we might live and never die.  He had Jesus suffer the torments of hell on the cross so that the full penalty for the sins of the world has been paid.  Furthermore, so that generations of people would learn of Jesus and all He has done to reconcile us with God, God sent out disciples, apostles, missionaries, pastors, and teachers to tell of Jesus’ love and faithfulness. 

God has also instructed parents to teach their children of His great love and mercy.  Through Moses, He instructed, “The Lord is our God.  The Lord is one!  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  These words that I am commanding you today are to be on your heart.  Teach them diligently to your children, and speak about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

There are many times we may wonder why God allows evil to continue in the world, or why He doesn’t end all suffering right now.  God doesn’t answer every question we might have, but we do know why Jesus had to suffer.  St. Peter once argued against Jesus having to suffer and die and Jesus reprimanded that apostle for his opposition to what was necessary. (Matthew 16:22-23)  Later, after seeing Jesus suffer and die but rise again, and after the Holy Spirit arrived to further instruct the apostles, Peter wrote, “Indeed, it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, because Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:17-18) 

So, we have our answer concerning God’s will.  He wants to save us from the punishment and damnation we deserved, so He sent His Son Jesus to win our freedom from sin, death, and the devil.  And God’s will is that we believe in His Son that we might be saved through faith in Him.  Before He created the world, God chose you to hear His Good News and be saved. (Ephesians 1:4-5)  This is what Lent and Christianity as a whole is all about.  Thank the Lord, What God wills will be done.  Amen.

Now to the King eternal, to the immortal, invisible, only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen.

Trust God who saves us from the roaring lion.

 

Sermon for Oculi, Lent 3, March 8, 2026

The God of love and peace will be with you.  Amen.

Daniel 6:10-24  ¹⁰Now, when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went to his house.  It had windows on its upper story that opened toward Jerusalem.  Three times each day he would get on his knees and pray and offer praise before his God.  He continued to do that, just as he had been doing before this.  ¹¹Then these men came as a group and found Daniel praying and seeking favor from his God.  ¹²They then went and asked the king about the decree.  “Your Majesty, did you not sign a decree that anyone who prays to any god or person for thirty days except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the den of lions?”  The king answered, “Indeed I did.  The order is established as a law of the Medes and the Persians that cannot be revoked.”  ¹³Then they responded to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, does not pay attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree that you signed.  Instead, three times each day he is praying his prayers.”  ¹⁴When the king heard this report, he was very upset about it, but he was determined to save Daniel.  So until sunset he worked hard to rescue him.  ¹⁵Then these men came as a group to the king and kept saying to the king, “You know, Your Majesty, that it is the law of the Medes and the Persians that every decree or statute that the king establishes cannot be changed.”  ¹⁶Then the king gave the order, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the lions’ den.  The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you.”  ¹⁷A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the pit.  The king sealed it with his signet ring and the signet rings of his nobles so that nothing could be changed with regard to Daniel’s situation.  ¹⁸Then the king went to his palace.  He spent the night without food, and no entertainment was brought before him.  But he could not sleep.  ¹⁹At dawn the king arose as soon as it was light and hurried to the lions’ den.  ²⁰As he came near the pit, he cried out in a fearful voice.  The king said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, was your God, whom you serve continually, able to rescue you from the lions?”  ²¹Then Daniel spoke with the king.  “Your Majesty, may you live forever!  ²²My God sent his angel and shut the mouth of the lions.  They have not hurt me because he found me innocent in his presence.  Also before you, Your Majesty, I have committed no crime.”  ²³Then the king was very glad and said that Daniel should be brought up from the pit.  So Daniel was brought up from the pit, and he was unharmed because he trusted in his God.  ²⁴The king gave the order, and those men who maliciously accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the lions’ den—they, their children, and their wives.  They had not reached the bottom of the pit when the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. (EHV)

Trust God who saves us from the roaring lion.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

            Sometimes rulers pass laws with good intentions but not foreseeing unintended consequences, they end up with bad results.  Sometimes, rulers simply issue foolish laws out of arrogance, selfish power grabs, or mistaken assumptions.  And then, there are times when a naïve ruler is misled by those with wicked intentions to make a law that is both foolish and harmful.  It appears that all three of these are the case here.

Last Sunday, we continued our journey through the Catechism by beginning to explore the First Article of the Apostle’s Creed which deals with the Father and His creation of the world.  Part of Luther’s explanation reminds us that God protects and cares for us throughout our life here on earth.  That is especially evident in this morning’s text where we learn to Trust God who saves us from the roaring lion.

The account of Daniel and the lions’ den is probably one of the most well-known Bible stories, but whether it is always properly understood is another question.  The fact that Daniel was saved does not mean that we should put God to the test and expect to be protected from harm in all ways.  Furthermore, it does not indicate that God allows bad things to happen to people because they are somehow less righteous than Daniel.  Jesus enlightened us when He told the people, “Those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse sinners than all the people living in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no.  But unless you repent, you will all perish too.” (Luke 13:4-5)  Still, the Lord does promise “that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)  Therefore, we can rightly conclude that God had good purposes in allowing this event to take place.

Perhaps the first thing we should learn is not to put our full confidence in earthly authorities that are often subject to wrong ideas and evil intentions.  It also doesn’t mean we should disobey those put in authority over us.  St. Paul clearly relayed God’s command to obey those above us, yet we also must follow the apostles’ example when they declared, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)  Therefore, we will obey the governing authorities in ordinary things, but when they demand obedience to laws that are clearly against God’s commands, then we will obey God and suffer whatever consequences may come our way.

On the other hand, we can clearly see our God working behind the scenes here.  First, Daniel somewhat foreshadows our Lord Jesus.  Daniel was faithful to God and the most dedicated, wise, and skillful of all the advisors to the king, which, unfortunately, made him subject to the jealousies of other advisors.  They could find no fault of which to accuse Daniel, so they convinced the king to use his authority to make a law they schemed to use to trap Daniel. 

Now, Daniel was not holy, but he was righteous by faith in the Lord.  Jesus, on the other hand, was and is perfectly holy and faithful to His Father in heaven.  No one could accuse Jesus of any guilt, because He had no sin at all.  Still, out of jealousy and hatred, Jesus’ enemies falsely accused Him of many crimes.  However, in the end, Jesus’ death sentence was carried out because He told the truth, that He is the Son of God who was sent into the world to save sinners.

Thus, it is in Jesus’ death sentence that we are taught to Trust God who saves us from the roaring lion.  Because all mankind is infected with sin, we are all subject to the curse of sin which is death.  We are all in danger continually because of the deceiver who brought sin into the world in the first place.  Therefore, the Holy Spirit through St. Peter warns us, “Have sound judgment.  Be alert.  Your adversary, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

In our sermon text, it was the king’s foolish and idolatrous decision that put Daniel in danger of death.  Once the sentence was carried out, the king regretted his decision.  Does it bother you that he couldn’t sleep that night?  Likewise, I might ask, do you ever have trouble sleeping because of something you have done? 

At this point, we could recognize that it was our sin, as well as the sin of the whole world, that caused Jesus to be thrown into battle against the roaring lion.  Isaiah confessed, “Surely he was taking up our weaknesses, and he was carrying our sufferings.  We thought it was because of God that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted, but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced.  He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.  The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5)

When the king ran to the lion’s den that next morning, he really didn’t expect to find Daniel still alive.  Sure, he desperately hoped that the God Daniel worshipped could have done something, but the king wasn’t yet a believer in the true God.  In the same way, the women who came to Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning, and His disciples as well, didn’t really expect to find Jesus alive, even though He had told them several times that He would rise on the third day.

Of course, I am not saying that those women and disciples didn’t believe in Jesus, but they didn’t yet fully understand who Jesus is.  Jesus is indeed the dragonslayer and lion tamer God sent to rescue us from the jaws of certain condemnation at the gates of hell. 

Now, Daniel didn’t die that night because God sent His angel to keep the mouths of those hungry lions shut.  As the Lord promised in Psalm 91, “If you make the Most High your shelter, evil will not overtake you.  Disaster will not come near your tent.  Because he will give a command to his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:9-11)  On the other hand, the Savior Daniel foreshadowed, our Lord Jesus, had to die because of the guilt of those who falsely accused Him, and because of the sins we commit in foolishness, self-promotion, jealousy, and hatred.  At the same time, like Daniel, Jesus didn’t stay in the lion’s pit, for God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day.

After the king found Daniel alive that next morning, and brought him safely out of the pit, he gave a new order, and all “those men who maliciously accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the lions’ den—they, their children, and their wives.  They had not reached the bottom of the pit when the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.”  This is the same warning God has for anyone who rejects Jesus.  About those who serve primarily themselves in this life, Jesus declared, “Then he [The King] will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the Devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41)  That eternal pit is what is in store for the devil and all who follow his ways.

Therefore, while many people might question why God would allow that king to be so foolish, or why He would allow those wicked men seemingly to have their way in the world, our Lord wants us to know that there is nothing that escapes His attention, and there is no sin that will go unpunished.  At the same time, God has already punished His own beloved Son for the sins of the world.  Therefore, it is only those who reject the Son who have no part with the Father.  Their eternal destination will remain the depths of hell as long as they continue in their wickedness and unbelief. 

Still, for those who continually turn toward the Son of God in faith there is everlasting rescue from the roaring lion who seeks to destroy us.  The victory has already been won, for Jesus lived holiness for us and died to pay for all our guilt.  Consequently, His resurrection on Easter morning proves that everything the Bible promises is true.  “Because I live, [Jesus says] you also will live.  In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.  The one who has my commands and holds on to them is the one who loves me.  And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father.” (John 14:19-21)  Just as Jesus replied to the woman in our Gospel lesson who shouted out to Him from the crowds, “Even more blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” (John 14:18)  For all of us the message remains, Trust God who saves us from the roaring lion.  Amen.

Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.  Blessed be His glorious name forever.  May the whole earth be filled with His glory.  Amen.

We proclaim the love of God Who created all things.

 

Sermon for Reminiscere, Lent 2, March 1, 2026

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.  Amen.

Acts 17:22-29  ²²Then Paul stood up in front of the council of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way.  ²³For as I was walking around and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’  Now what you worship as unknown—this is what I am going to proclaim to you.  ²⁴“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made with hands.  ²⁵Neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, since he himself gives all people life and breath and everything they have.  ²⁶From one man, he made every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth.  He determined the appointed times and the boundaries where they would live.  ²⁷He did this so they would seek God and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  ²⁸‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’  As some of your own poets have said, ‘Indeed, we are also his offspring.’  ²⁹“Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and planning. (EHV)

We proclaim the love of God Who created all things.

Dear friends in Christ,

            The questions of where we come from and why we are here have perplexed millions in our times, and likely multiple billions of people throughout history.  However, that statement is itself quite perplexing, because God has never kept the truth a secret.  In fact, throughout history, God has made clear how we came into existence, along with the earth and universe as well.  Furthermore, He also gives us purpose.

There is no doubt that Adam and Eve knew that God created everything.  Still, after sin entered the world, it didn’t take long for a portion of mankind to turn away from the truth.  The world’s population became so sadly self-centered and violent that the Lord lamented the condition of mankind.  “The Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts and plans they formed in their hearts were only evil every day.” (Genesis 6:5)  That likely explains why God was forgotten by many.

Still, one man found favor with the Lord, and God assigned Noah to rescue a remnant of all living things when God sent a world-wide flood upon the earth in judgment of the wickedness.  Having lived through that destruction and being an eyewitness to what the world was like before and after God’s anger was stirred, one might assume that Noah’s descendants would be very careful to pass along the knowledge of God from one generation to the next.  Unfortunately, the following generations progressed in about the same way as those destroyed in the flood.

So, what happened?  Did parents fail to teach their children?  Did the children fail to hold on to the truths of God’s promises?  Was temptation too enticing?  We can’t say exactly what happened in each family line, but once people had lost the faith that should have been passed done from generation to generation, there was a void that needed to be filled.  To fill that void, many groups of people developed myths to explain the workings of the world and gods (read idols) with the hope of influencing the events of life by appeasing the assumed angry gods.  Many modern theories of our origination are little different than the pagan myths.  This brief review brings us to the events in our text in a city that treasured numerous idols, so that like Paul, We proclaim the love of God Who created all things.

As Paul walked through Athens, he observed the multitude ways the people tried to influence life.  Through those man-imagined deities, the people hoped to help themselves through their worship.  And, as Paul noted, that desire went so far as to reverence a god they didn’t know.  They feared angering a deity they didn’t know or understand, so they added this altar to their collection as insurance.

It is to these people that Paul reaches out with a truth that had been clearly written since the time of Moses but was available long before that even.  Paul told the debating crowds, “Now what you worship as unknown—this is what I am going to proclaim to you.  The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made with hands.  Neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, since he himself gives all people life and breath and everything they have.”  You might say that Paul told them, “Forget everything you thought you knew and believe the true history of the world, and of yourselves, and thus know the God who controls all things.

This brings us to our review of the The First Article (creation): I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.  What does this mean?  Martin Luther answered:

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them;  that He richly and daily provides me with food and clothing, home and family, property and goods, and all that I need to support this body and life;  that He protects me from all danger, guards and keeps me from all evil;  and all this purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I am duty bound to thank and praise, to serve and obey Him.  This is most certainly true.

God has been proclaiming truth since Adam and Eve.  Noah knew it, so did Isaiah and the other prophets, and Jesus confirmed it with His testimonies of faith in the Old Testament writings.  Isaiah pleaded with the way-ward Israelites to return to this God, this Lord of all.  In this short creed which the Christian Church as been professing for two thousand years, we summarize who God is and what He does for us.  As Paul wrote, our God doesn’t need anything from us.  Through the psalmist, our God declared, “I do not need to take a bull from your barn or goats from your pens, because every animal in the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand mountains.  I know every bird in the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is with me.  If I were hungry, I would not tell you, because the world is mine, and all that fills it.” (Psalm 50:9-12)

Thus, the question remains, “What does God really want from us?  If He created us, doesn’t that mean we owe Him something.  The answer is simply, yes.  We owe God everything, far more than we could ever hope to give.  But God doesn’t ask us to satisfy His appetite.  He desires to take care of us, not the other way around.  The truth is God sustains us in this life.  He controls all things for His purpose and plan.  What He wants from us is trust.  Trust that He is taking care of us in every situation.  Trust that no devil can overpower Him, and trust that God hears our prayers and answers them. 

Finally, and most important of all, God wants us to know and trust His Son as our Savior.  That is why Paul preached to the Athenians, and in lots of other places.  It is our duty, likewise, to proclaim the love of God Who created all things.  God doesn’t just provide for us with material blessings, though He does that in tremendous fashion whether we realize it or not.  Yet, of greatest importance to our Creator is that we be reconciled to Him and to live with Him for eternity.  It is through faith in His Son that God carries out His original plan to walk with mankind in harmony and bliss.

Now, as we look around our world, we see constant conflicts, wars, prejudices, and hatred.  But why?  In many cases, it is because people emphasize their differences and differing desires more than the unique truth that God loves the whole world.  Jesus, God’s Son, died for the sins of the whole world.  The Athenians were famous for looking down on other nations, tribes, and languages.  They felt them all beneath those supposed great thinkers.  Sounds more than a little like our times, doesn’t it?  How often are people judged more by their skin color, nationality, or political associations than by actual deeds or abilities?  To all those conflicts, the Holy Spirit reminds us, “From one man, he made every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth.  He determined the appointed times and the boundaries where they would live.”  Recognizing this reality, Paul continued, “He did this so they would seek God and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’”

We could spend hours debating what this all means, but the truth is Jesus died for all people.  The truth is God puts governments in place to maintain order and protect its citizens from some who might intend harm.  Naturally, in this sin-infested world, these conflicting viewpoints lead to distress, but it isn’t because God desires that, for Paul says, “As some of your own poets have said, ‘Indeed, we are also his offspring.’”  Our God created all people and all things.  He put man in the Garden of Eden to care for it.  He commands us to care for the places and countries He puts us in.  He tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  At the same time, the Bible teaches that we are to respect and obey those put in authority, because He puts them in those positions for His good purpose.

Dear friends, I’m afraid I haven’t touched all that much on law and Gospel yet in this sermon.  In many ways it has been a historical review.  However, we all must admit that we have been guilty of not loving and serving our fellow man as we should, whether that be the person next door, the wayfaring stranger, or our own family members.  We all have our weak moments when hatred creeps into our hearts.  For all these things and more, we might readily expect God’s judgment and condemnation.

Yet, God’s answer to our great guilt is exactly what Paul was teaching in that city.  He wrote, “Since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and planning.”  Paul went on to proclaim and explain how God’s Son came to earth in the form of a real man, Jesus Christ.  He told them of God’s great love for all sinners in putting the punishment that brought us peace on Jesus.  Paul told them of that great resurrection morning when Jesus rose from the dead alive and fully restored after being crucified, dead, buried, and in the tomb until the third day.

Now, many Athenians jeered at the idea of a resurrection from the dead.  Likewise, many in our times do as well.  Yet, God will not be mocked.  When He tells us that Jesus is returning to judge the world and to take home to heaven all those who believe in Him, we can and should believe Him.  When God tells us that we will be raised like Jesus on Judgment Day, we should believe Him.  Why?  Because God foretold so many events about the promised Savior and they were all fulfilled in Jesus, right down to His suffering on the cross for you and me and His resurrection.  Thus, everything Jesus has said, and everything the prophets foretold is confirmed as Jesus rose from the grave alive, and never to die again.  Because the God who created us, provides for us, protects us, and even gave up His Son to death so that we might live, We proclaim the love of God Who created all things.  Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore.  Amen.